Current safety technology regarding vehicle driving support systems, such as collision and blind spot warning systems, have generally been centered around only alerting the driver or computer system in autonomous, semi-autonomous, or conventional vehicles that contain collision and/or blind spot warning technology. The vehicles defined herein may be autonomous, semi-autonomous, and conventional vehicles, such as but not limited to, cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles, electric scooters, hover boards, Segways, and any other personal transportation vehicles or devices. Road users herein include pedestrians; two-wheeler users, such as: bicyclists or cyclists, one-wheeler users, such as single-wheel scooters or electric unicycles; and any other vehicle or device that may aid in mobility through, but not limited to, wheels, magnetic levitation, or aerial transportation. The current signaling features of a vehicle, such as turn signals for turning or lane changing, brake lights for decreasing in speed or stopping, or backup lights for reverse driving, provide limited insight to other road vehicles and users regarding more complex situations that occur on the road. In complex situations such as: a pedestrian crossing a road in a blind spot zone or lane changes when there is a possible blind spot, these systems do not provide sufficient information to the source vehicle, other vehicles, or road users. These limitations may cause potentially hazardous accidents to arise in certain instances, such as a pedestrian crossing on a crosswalk with or without a traffic light, in a blind spot zone to a vehicle.
For example, if a pedestrian is crossing on a crosswalk with or without a traffic light, the pedestrian may be unseen if they are in a blind spot or being blocked by objects, which may include the source vehicle itself, other vehicles, and/or users of the road. The only signal the first vehicle that sees the pedestrian can give to other road vehicles is their brake lights, which can have multiple meanings and does not solely signify that a pedestrian is crossing.
Moreover, this invention addresses the aspect of safety regarding autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles. With the advancement of technology, autonomous and semiautonomous vehicles may become widely used by the population. Autonomous vehicles and semi-autonomous vehicles may provide a means of mobility to segments of the population that do not have or no longer have a personal driver's license: the children and the elderly. However, the absence of a conventional driver in autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles may decrease risk perception and hazard detection by passengers in the vehicle. For example, in a conventional vehicle, when a passenger intends to get out of the vehicle and a bicyclist is approaching from behind, a conventional driver may be able to alert the passenger regarding the incoming bike. However, the absence of a conventional driver fails to alert passengers, such as: children, the elderly, and the disabled, who may have a lower sense of risk perception and hazard detection when on/off the road. This present invention addresses the need for a system that alerts passengers in autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles, as the driver would do in conventional vehicles.